Mobile

¹ American  

[moh-beel, moh-beel] / moʊˈbil, ˈmoʊ bil /

noun

1. a seaport in SW Alabama at the mouth of the Mobile River.

2. a river in SW Alabama, formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers. 38 miles (61 km) long.

---

mobile ² American  

[moh-buhl, -beel, -bahyl] / ˈmoʊ bəl, -bil, -baɪl /

adjective

1. capable of moving or being moved readily.

2. Digital Technology. pertaining to or noting a cell phone, usually one with computing ability, or a portable, wireless computing device used while held in the hand, as in

3. utilizing motor vehicles for ready movement.

   a mobile library.

4. Military. permanently equipped with vehicles for transport.

5. flowing freely, as a liquid.

6. changeable or changing easily in expression, mood, purpose, etc..

   a mobile face.

7. quickly responding to impulses, emotions, etc., as the mind.

8. Sociology.

   1. characterized by or permitting the mixing of social groups.

   2. characterized by or permitting relatively free movement from one social class or level to another.

9. of or relating to a mobile.

---

noun

1. a piece of sculpture having delicately balanced units constructed of rods and sheets of metal or other material suspended in midair by wire or twine so that the individual parts can move independently, as when stirred by a breeze.

2. mobile phone.

3. Informal. a mobile home.

4. Citizens Band Radio Slang. a vehicle.

-mobile ³ American  

1. a combining form extracted from automobile, occurring as the final element in compounds denoting specialized types of motorized conveyances: snowmobile; especially productive in coinages naming vehicles equipped to procure or deliver objects, provide services, etc., to people without regular access to these: bloodmobile; bookmobile; clubmobile; jazzmobile.

---

-mobile ¹ British  

/ məʊˌbiːl /

suffix

1. indicating a vehicle designed for a particular person or purpose

   Popemobile

---

Mobile ² British  

/ ˈməʊbiːl, məʊˈbiːl /

noun

1. a port in SW Alabama, on Mobile Bay (an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico): the state's only port and its first permanent settlement, made by French colonists in 1711. Pop: 193 464 (2003 est)

---

mobile ³ British  

/ ˈməʊbaɪl /

adjective

1. having freedom of movement; movable

2. changing quickly in expression

   a mobile face

3. sociol (of individuals or social groups) moving within and between classes, occupations, and localities

   upwardly mobile

4. (of military forces) able to move freely and quickly to any given area

5. informal (postpositive) having transport available

   are you mobile tonight?

---

noun

1. 1. a sculpture suspended in midair with delicately balanced parts that are set in motion by air currents

   2. ( as modifier ) Compare stabile

      mobile sculpture

2. short for mobile phone

mobile Cultural  

1. A sculpture made up of suspended shapes that move.

---

Discover More

Alexander Calder, a twentieth-century American sculptor, is known for his mobiles.

Other Word Forms

• nonmobile adjective
• semimobile adjective
• unmobile adjective

Etymology

Origin of mobile

First recorded in 1450–1500; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin, neuter of mōbilis “movable,” contraction of assumed movibilis, equivalent to movi- (stem of movēre “to set in motion, impel, move”) + -bilis adjective suffix; move, -ble

Example Sentences

He has written about Covid-19 vaccines, advances in cancer treatments, drug shortages and the use of mobile devices in healthcare.

From The Wall Street Journal

On mobile devices, ChatGPT had nearly 900 million monthly active users, more than the combined total from Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, xAI’s Grok and Chinese models from DeepSeek and Alibaba, according to Sensor Tower.

From The Wall Street Journal

Liftoff Mobile postponed its initial public offering, citing current market conditions and plans to list when timing is optimal.

From Barron's

Liftoff Mobile has postponed its initial public offering, citing market conditions after another day of sharp declines in stocks.

From Barron's

The company, which offers an AI-powered platform that helps advertisers and publishers acquire and engage mobile app users, had planned to raise $762 million at a $5.5 billion market valuation, according to Renaissance capital.

From Barron's